Thursday, September 28

I haven't written many "about life" posts lately because, well, I guess I've just been too busy living it! Summer whizzed by and I can't believe autumn is here already. But I couldn't miss an opportunity to tell you about our great allergy-friendly trip to Ocean City, New Jersey (or OC NJ!) in August. As you might know, Little Guy has food allergies to dairy, eggs, nuts and sesame. So, eating out and finding safe options on a beach boardwalk are not easy. But do you believe that he was able to eat dairy free ice cream (or water ice) from the boardwalk from THREE different places. YES! I said THREE!Well, we just let him go wild, and we didn't mind if he ate ice cream twice a day since it was a unique opportunity (and Little Gal SURE loved it too even though she doesn't have food allergies!).One of the first things we did was stop at Aloha Soft Serve on the boardwalk. They serve ice cream and DOLE WHIP there. Yes, the kind of Dole Whip that you can only get in DisneyWorld! We let Little Guy get both Strawberry and Pineapple. Little Gal tried the swirl!

Little Guy was also able to get Polish Water Ice. It's really the creamiest water ice I've ever had. The water ice has no dairy, but they do serve ice cream at the store. Again, be sure to talk with the person serving you or the manager. I asked A LOT of questions at every store, and made sure they knew about Little Guy's allergies.

See the creamy water ice? I think he chose blue raspberry both times!

And probably my FAVORITE place was a new store called Goji Juice bar. It's also right on the boardwalk near the Pirate's Cove rides and arcade. It's not only allergy friendly, but HEALTHY. The ice cream is made only from ingredients like fruit and coconut milk. SO MUCH healthier than the ingredients of the other non-dairy ice creams or water ices on the boardwalk!

Now, I know some people wouldn't eat here due to bowl toppings like peanut butter. However, the manager there told me they keep everything separate and it doesn't go into the machine. He was very careful with Little Guy's order and I felt confident it would be safe since I talked to the manager about his allergies and basically watched him prep the ice cream bowls!

And what other food did he eat on vacation? Well, Jilly's French Fries....almost every day! They only use potatoes and a soybean/vegetable oil combination to make their fries. And I have to say, they're VERY TASTY. This was our second year just eating them up every day!

This was also our second year eating at the Beach Club Cafe for dinner, right on the boardwalk. I called ahead and they said they could accommodate us. And you know what else I did? I forgot the food allergy chef cards we ALWAYS take to restaurants!!! ARGH!! Immediate sweating and stress began as I sat at that table. But then cool and calm hubs (who usually has a good solution for things like this) told me I should just write down the allergy card on a piece of paper. So I did!

I also talked directly to the owner and chef (a husband and wife team), and he said he could make safe hot dogs or burger with no bun, fruit and veggies.Little Guy enjoyed his meal - all of us enjoyed our meals actually. I highly recommend this restaurant!

We only stayed 3 nights and 2 days for our trip this year, so we didn't eat out too much. We had a kitchenette in our room (always a necessity), so I whipped up various things for him like Applegate Sausage and ants on a log...

Organic hot dogs and fruit....eaten by the pool....

And lots of other good food like pizza I made at home, SunButter and jelly sandwiches, chicken nuggets, frozen waffles, and lots of fruit and frozen veggies! Here's a very NON picturesque photo of our fridge this trip!

And I have to say, even though it's stressful and takes a ton of planning, it's possible to have a fun and allergy-friendly vacation full of new experiences and surprises!

Hi Eve - you're welcome! Yes, it's so important we share our new finds with each other. That's part of why I started this blog...I found other blogs SO helpful on our food allergy journey. So, I wanted to join the conversation and hopefully help others!

We have gone to OCNJ the past 4 summers. We stay in a place with a full kitchen. I have seen these places but not interested in the chemicals they put in the polish ice. I think I even looked at the ingredient list for Dole whips (not great). I will check out the Goji juice bar.